Northstar

TECHNOLOGY www.travelweeklyweb.com Travel Agents, don't miss the mobile party Mobile is King By Rohizam Md Yusoff CEO & founder of SOTA Editorial Advisory Board Member, Technology Without a doubt, mobile is the fastest growing technology today. According to a Cisco study, mobile telephone subscriptions would hit a whopping 7.1 billion by the end of 2016. A Morgan Stanley study predicts that sales of mobile devices could top 10 billion units by 2020, compared to the personal computer boom in the 1990s, which sold only hundreds of millions of units. Mobile is also the technology with the fastest adoption rate. The Cisco study points out that in over 40 countries, 138 million people without access to electricity will have access to mobile network by 2015. Digital Natives Most of the users cited above are digital natives – those born in the Internet age and much attached to their mobile devices. According to a Travelport survey, 87 per cent of digital natives already own or plan to buy a smartphone in the next six months. Digital natives use the power of mobile to enhance their travel experience. Many may still use the PC when doing research, planning and booking but once they travel, their mobile devices are used not just to communicate but used as their reference guide and to share their travel experience. Digital native travellers are always connected. The opportunity arises for travel agents to capitalise on the far-reaching power of mobile to engage with this new generation of well-connected travellers, to deliver more personalised services. Mobile Marketing Opportunities Businesses are finding new ways to connect with consumers via the mobile channel because it provides an easy, direct communication in real time. This is evident in the surge in mobile advertising spend which is expected to increase from US$400 million in 2011 to $2.5 billion by the end of 2013. The growth is not expected to stop there. Currently $67 billion is spent on Internet advertising globally and a sizeable portion of this growing spend is expected to shift to mobile advertising in the coming years. So Lo Mo the Travel Agent Opportunity Google's thinktravel report (September 2012) points out that the travel industry has the most mobile websites. It goes on to observe that consumers aren't satisfied with the online experience currently provided resulting in low consumer experience ratings for these sites. Such a shortcoming presents travel agents the opportunity to strive for more personal engagement with their customers. 18 | ■ TRAVELWEEKLY ASIA | AUGUST 2013 Making mobile a key marketing channel makes this possible. Although brick-and-mortar travel agents may feel that they cannot compete with the resources of the big boys online, they have a strong hidden weapon behind them – the personal touch. Traditionally, agents have been taking on the concierge's role and with little effort they could transfer that skill online to the mobile traveller by offering personalised services. Doing so would create trust and win loyalty by making effective use of this technology. Travel agents can connect and engage with their customers by using the So Lo Mo (Social, Local, Mobile) approach, which has proven to work for mobile marketing. To put it simply, social is concerned with sharing experiences, mobile is about on-the-go convenience and local is about accessing information from where the consumer is at a particular moment. In addition to offering mobile-friendly websites (discussed below under mobile action plan), agents could running SEM campaigns geared towards mobile users and utilise mobile search engines. Agents could provide realtime engagement for their customers via location-based networks by encouraging check-ins and providing deals or coupons delivered to their customer's handsets. Ideas are plenty on this front and travel agents should start exploring them. Progressive Action Plan Travel agents need not fear embracing the mobile wave as they could move into this marketing channel progressively, based on available resources. But start they must. Firstly, establish a social media foothold. Social media platforms are a favourite with mobile travellers and travel agents should use them to engage consumers with interesting and relevant content. Studies have shown that going for the hardsell on social media platforms does not work. Instead of directly publishing travel offers, agents could engage users by sharing information on exciting holiday destinations, personal travel experiences and share trip photographs with commentaries. The whole idea here is to interact with potential customers and learn about their travel preferences from their feedback, whether positive or negative. In a nutshell, social media should be used for subtle marketing and brand building for the long term. The key here is for agents to provide quick responses to their social media followers. For the full story, visit www.travelweeklyweb.com. www.travelweeklyweb.com

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